KIRKUS REVIEW

When Danny takes his voracious pet
dinosaur into space but forgets to bring lunch, there’s only one way to get
back home.

Soaring into orbit aboard a rocket
stolen from the science museum, Danny’s all set for an exciting adventure.
Unfortunately, the lack of provisions soon has his humongous companion not only
chowing down on the control boards, but sallying out to chomp on the moon,
Martian passers-by, “satellites, Saturn, and six supernovas, / Shape-shifting
saucers and seven space rovers,” until at last even the spacecraft itself has
gone down the hatch. How to get back to Earth? Dino to the rescue: “With the
feeling of guilt deep down in its gut, / Its brain brewed a plan involving its
butt.” Propelled by a massive diarrheic stream that looks in the cartoon
illustrations like golden cake batter studded with partially digested science
gear, off rockets the white lad perched aboard his bulbous buddy…leaving behind
a new, brown companion for the moon. Fletcher, Poynter, and Parsons gleefully
and unapologetically play to the lowest possible common denominator, from
concept to limping verse and (adult) stomach-turning visuals.

It’s easy to smell a storytime hit,
thanks to the combination of unvarnished doggerel and poop in literally
astronomical quantities. (Picture book. 4-6)

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